This weekend, hooligans took to the streets of many Dutch towns to light fires and throw rocks at police, and my favorite picture depicted a small fire near the Museumplein in Amsterdam. One could be angry at the hooligans for starting the fire, but on closer inspection, the real antagonist was the jerk who could not hold onto their cardboard for another couple days until the bin was emptied. Burning cardboard next to the bin is probably doing the neighborhood a favor in reducing litter and making it a bit more beautiful.
My favorite myth of the Netherlands is that the garbage collection is better with the use of underground bins that can be used anytime. This sounds lovely, and it occasionally works, but in practice, there is still garbage everywhere all of the time. The bins are full or jammed, and who knows or has the time to figure out where the next one is.
Luckily, my collection bins are within a view of my apartment, so I can peak, see the pile of boxes, and know that I have to keep my internal pile of boxes for another day. The pandemic has only heightened this situation, so I imagine homes of do-gooders are piling up with cardboard. At some point, it might just be time to take it out to a forest and make a fire instead.